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Those of us resolving to lead a lowercarbon life in 20xx could do worse than acquire a copy of Prashant Vazes new book, The Economical Environmentalist, in which the author picks over the fine details of his life. He works out how much CO2 he could save by driving more slowly, installing loft insulation or being a vegetarian. The result will be a little dense for some, but it is delightfully geeky and has the virtue of being right more often than not. This virtue is underrated. Environmentalists have been slow to realise that the fashionable ecolifestyle is riddled with contradictions. The one that particularly exasperates me is the “food miles” obsession, whereby we eschew tomatoes from Spain and roses flown in from Kenya, in favour of local products grown in a heated greenhouse with a far greater carbon footprint. Other lessthanobvious truths are: that pork and chicken have substantially lower carbon footprints than beef and lamb (yes, even organic beef and lamb)。 that milk and cheese also have a substantial footprint。 that dishwashers are typically more efficient than washing dishes by hand。 and that ecofriendly washing powders may be distinctly ecounfriendly because they tend to temp